Hard Dependancies

[Judokas]

Hello,

I have many tasks with two types of dependancies. The first is what I will call "hard" and they "never" change (to drive the car you MUST put gas in it). The second changes frequently (who will drive the car). We often update our schedules and this becomes an issue because it appears both the resource dependancy and "hard" dependancies are tracked in the same column yet we are often moving the resouce from one task to another. In order to separate the two out I would have to read each one prior to modifying predecessors and try to be careful not to mess any of them up. Not only time consuming but dangerous.

I would like if I could have two predecessor columns that were independent and that I could clear one without affecting the other (one would be the hard dependancy and the other soft).

This seems crazy to me so I suspect I am not using the tool correctly. Any advice?

 

[PDQBach]

A resource (the driver) is not a predecessor but ... well ... a resource.

I think you are misinterpreting the concept of a predecessor. A predecessor is a deliverable (usually physical but it doesn't have to be) that must be available for the subsequent task to begin. (Ok, technically that's playing a bit loosy-goosy with the definition because of things like Finish/Finish task relationships -- but work with me here.)

If you create your driver resources with appropriate calendars then you can schedule the work done by the car with all the necessary predecessors (gas, washer fluid, etc.) and, when you assign the driver (who has an availability calendar) Project will adjust the start/finish of the task to reflect the constraints imposed by both the predecessors and by the driver calendar.

Switching drivers will still hold the car until gas and washer fluid are available but will then adjust it to the calendar reflecting the availability of the new driver.